Describing People's Appearance ESL Activities, Games, Worksheets & Lessons

ESL Describing Appearance Game - Vocabulary: Categorising, Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing - Pair Work In this engaging describing people game, students ask questions about people's appearance in order to guess the names of six classmates a partner has written down. First, students categorise vocabulary used to describe people into adjectives, features and clothing or accessories. Students then write the names of six classmates in a table. Next, students pair up with another student and take turns asking their partner five questions about each student they wrote down using three question structures: Are they + adjective? Do they have + feature? Are they wearing + clothing item? When a student has asked all five questions, they guess the name of the classmate and write it in a table, without telling their partner. When the students have both written their six guesses, they check their answers with their partner. Students score one point for each correct guess. The student with the most points wins the game. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Activity - Vocabulary and Writing: Table Completion, Writing and Reading a Description, Guessing In this fun describing appearance activity, students describe a classmate's physical appearance and clothing to the class, who guess who it is. First, students secretly choose a classmate to describe. Students then tick the boxes on the worksheet that describe the classmate's height, build, eye colour and hair. Next, students tick the clothes their chosen classmate is wearing and write down the colour of each item. After that, students use the information to write a description of their classmate's appearance without naming the classmate. Finally, students take turns reading their descriptions to the class, who guess who it is. show less

ESL Describing People Lesson - Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Gap-fill, Writing and Drawing Descriptions - Speaking Activities: Describing, Guessing - Pair Work This free describing people lesson helps to teach students how to describe people's appearance and clothing. First, students learn to use the verb 'to be' to describe height, body build and age. Students then write sentences describing people in pictures using the verb 'to be' and adjectives. Next, students learn to use 'have' and 'has' to describe hair colour, hair length and facial features. In pairs, students then take turns describing a person's facial features to their partner, who guesses who it is. After that, students learn to describe what someone is wearing and then write about what they are wearing now and what they wore yesterday. Students then describe pictures of two people in pairs and complete gap-fill exercises to consolidate the language from the lesson. Next, students write a description of themselves and then a description of a classmate without naming who it is. Students then take turns reading their descriptions to the class, who guess who it is. Finally, students take part in a drawing activity where they read descriptions and draw pictures of three thieves. show less

ESL Describing People Worksheet - Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading Exercises: Identifying, Error Correction, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences This useful describing appearance worksheet helps students practice describing someone's build, height, hair, and eyes. Students also practice using 'both' to highlight similarities in two people's looks. Students start by reading how to describe people's appearance. Students then use the information to identify and correct mistakes in sentences describing students. Next, students match descriptions to people. Lastly, students write sentences using 'both' to describe one thing that is true for two people's appearance. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Activity - Vocabulary and Writing: Sentence Completion - Group Work In this creative describing people activity, students write a chain pen friend letter as an invented person, describing their height, weight, facial features, clothing and general appearance. First, students write a name and age for the invented person and then fold the letter along the dotted line so that the sentence they completed is hidden, and pass the letter to the person on their right. Next, students create the second piece of information about the person's appearance and complete the sentence, folding and passing the paper as before. This process is repeated until all the sentences have been completed. When the students have finished, they unfold their letter and read it aloud to the group. This is their new pen friend! Afterwards, students read out their letters to the class. The letters should make an entertaining read! show less

ESL Appearance Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary: Writing and Giving Clues, Guessing - Group and Pair Work In this memorable describing appearance activity, students complete a crossword by describing and guessing words and adjectives related to physical appearance. First, in two groups, students invent and write down clues for the physical appearance words written on their crossword. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking their partner for a clue to one of their missing appearance words. Their partner reads out the clue for that word, and the other student tries to guess what it is. If the student guesses the word successfully, they write it on their crossword. If not, their partner continues to give more clues until the student is able to guess the word. Finally, students check their spelling by comparing crosswords. show less

ESL Appearance Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Categorising, Gap-fill, Drawing, Writing Sentences - Speaking Activity: Describing, Drawing - Pair Work In this comprehensive describing people worksheet, students learn vocabulary for describing appearance and practice describing people. First, students categorise appearance words into four categories, height and build, skin and facial features, hair, clothes and accessories. Students then complete descriptions of two people using appearance words from a box. Next, students use the descriptions to draw pictures of the two people and then compare their drawings with a partner. After that, students write sentences about their own appearance using the four categories. Students then move on to put words in the correct order to form questions, asking about someone's appearance. Lastly, students draw a picture of a person and then ask a partner about the person they have drawn using the questions, drawing the person from their partner's answers. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Activity - Speaking: Describing, Drawing - Pair Work Here is an enjoyable describing people speaking activity to help students practice describing people's physical appearance, clothing and body posture. In pairs, students take turns describing people on their worksheet to their partner, who listens carefully and draws the people. Afterwards, students compare pictures to check they have drawn the people correctly. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Activity - Speaking: Describing, Identifying - Pair Work In this free describing appearance speaking activity, students match names to faces by giving and listening to descriptions of people's facial features and hair. In pairs, students take turns naming and describing the people on their worksheet for their partner to identify, talking about the person's facial features, hair colour, hair type, hairstyle, facial hair and age. Their partner listens carefully and tries to identify the person on their worksheet, labelling the picture with the correct name. Their partner then checks they have the correct person by asking questions, e.g. 'Does Samuel have wavy hair?' Afterwards, students compare their worksheets to check their answers. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Game - Speaking: Asking Questions, Identifying - Pair Work In this entertaining describing appearance game, students ask yes/no questions about appearance in order to find out their secret identity. In pairs, one student picks a person at random from the character sheet and writes the character's name on a piece of paper, keeping it hidden from their partner. Their partner then has to find out who they are by asking yes/no questions, e.g. 'Am I a woman?' 'Do I have long hair?' Etc. The other student replies yes or no accordingly. Each time the student asks a question, they score one point. When the student thinks they know who they are, they ask a yes/no question using the character's name, e.g. 'Am I Olivia?' Students continue taking turns to play until they have been five characters. The student with the least amount of points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Impromptu Speech, Freer Practice - Group Work Here is a fun appearance vocabulary board game to help students practice describing how people look. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and reading the sentence to the other students using the word 'blank' for the missing word, e.g. 'Maya is very BLANK. She looks good in everything she wears.' The other students listen to the sentence and race to choose a word from the game board and say it aloud to complete the sentence, e.g. elegant. The first student to say the correct word rolls the dice and moves their counter along the board. If a student lands on a 'Talk about' square, they talk about that topic for 20 seconds to remain on the square. If they are unsuccessful, they move back one space. The first student to reach the finish wins the game. As a variation, students take turns trying to complete a sentence with a word from the board rather than racing each other. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Game - Vocabulary: Providing Vocabulary - Pair and Group Work In this imaginative describing appearance game, teams race to come up with words used to describe appearance based on prompts. In two teams, students take turns picking up a card, reading out the prompt, and placing the card face-up on the table. The two teams then race to come up with appearance vocabulary that matches the prompt. The first student to raise their hand and provide the appropriate vocabulary wins and keeps the card. If a student gives their answer without putting up their hand, the other team gets to keep the card. The team with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Appearance Adjectives Worksheet - Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Gap-fill, Writing a Description - Speaking Game: Describing, Guessing In this productive adjectives of appearance worksheet, students practice describing people's appearance using related adjectives. First, students write appearance adjectives they know for each physical feature and then use a dictionary to add new synonyms or antonyms they find. Students then use the dictionary to find and write down synonyms or antonyms for appearance adjectives. Next, students match sentence halves together to make descriptions of appearance. After that, students complete sentences by underlining the correct appearance word. Students then complete a description of a woman using words from a box. Following that, students write a paragraph describing a picture of a young man using the appearance adjectives and then compare their texts with a partner. Finally, in groups, students take turns describing a famous person's appearance without saying their name. The first student to correctly guess the person each time scores one point. show less

ESL Describing People Activity - Speaking: Information Gap, Asking and Answering Questions, Identifying - Pair Work In this rewarding describing appearance speaking activity, students ask questions about people's physical appearance in order to solve a crime puzzle. In pairs, students take turns asking their partner questions about various people's appearance in order to complete missing information about criminals in a table. Afterwards, students read crime clues and the physical descriptions in the table and decide which criminal stole each item, writing the name of the person next to the item they stole. show less

ESL Describing Appearance Activity - Reading and Vocabulary: Categorizing, Scanning, Identifying - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work This interesting describing people activity helps students practice vocabulary used to describe people's appearance. First, students read descriptions of five people. Students then put words in bold from the descriptions in their correct appearance categories. Next, in pairs, students take turns asking their partner for clues about who owns which pet, writing down the clues on the worksheet. When both students have a complete set of clues, they scan the descriptions and cross out the people that each clue eliminates based on their appearance. Once students have eliminated who does not own each pet, they write the animal below its owner's name. show less